Now here is one for the software engineers: My girlfriend and me went to a very interesting event today. She likes to use her new Notebook to take notes of the speeches. People object to the keyboard tapping. Why not use the anti-noise noise technology to create sounds that cancle out the tapping? A great product for notebook users. - Discuss

Now, there is a plan: Record all flight data centrally via wireless communication so that after a crash you don´t have to look for a flight recorder.

Problem 1: Flights frequently loose communications. Even Satelites do not guarantee uninterupted streams of data. Murphy´s law says that the wireless link will fail when it is most needed. Problems can seldom be troubleshot by the flight crew.

Problem 2: It is easy to tamper with the data. The flight recorder data is primarily a way to ensure liability and to find out who is going to foot the bill. Not a small number of Airlines would try to manipulate the data transmitted to render it useless because that is the safest way to avoid liability. - Discuss

Tragic, tragic. This time it seems to be a genuine accident. - Discuss